54th Saintes Festival: a baroque “All-star game” tuned to the feminine

Wednesday, July 16 at 11 a.m., Sophie de Bardonnèche with Justin Taylor and Lucile Boulanger will perform part of the “Destinées” program dedicated to female instrumental works.

F estival-goers have already noticed: this year, the days at the Saintes Festival start early! After an informal morning Bach'n'Breakfast during which the audience, free to move around, can hear a solo instrument in the acoustics of the abbey church, the 11 a.m. concerts are an opportunity for wonderful encounters.

The one with the Kapsber'Girls, Tuesday, July 15, will surely leave a fond memory. The one this Wednesday, July 16, promises just as much! In the tranquility of the Abbaye aux Dames auditorium, the audience has a date with artists they know well, sometimes without realizing it: an instrumental trio composed of Justin Taylor (harpsichord), Sophie de Bardonnèche (violin), and Lucile Boulanger (viola da gamba).

Although well-known in established ensembles, Lucile Boulanger's singular talent has recently been revealed. She is none other than the winner of the 2025 Victoires de la Musique Classique in the "instrumental soloist" category. As for her two equally brilliant colleagues, they are at the origin of a well-known ensemble in Saintes: the Consort. In a Baroque chamber music formation, the three virtuosos will perform part of the "Destinées" program, which they recorded on a disc in 2024, which brings to life the works of ten French female composers.

This is one of the great qualities of this 2025 program of the Saintes Festival: alongside the high masses at 9 p.m., to offer concerts that allow us to hear strong names from the Baroque scene, in the intimacy of a smaller capacity than that of the cathedral or the abbey church. Artists of magnitude who put their reputation at the service of new repertoires to discover, to renew the field of hackneyed masterpieces, in an all-female version of a Baroque "all-star game"!

Justin Taylor, Sophie de Bardonnèche and Lucile Boulanger at the auditorium of the Abbaye aux Dames de Saintes, Wednesday July 16 at 11 a.m. Reservations: musique.abbayeauxdames.org .